Overwrap with inspection doors



United States Patent Inventors Lewis I". Rees Blg Flats, New York, and Victor Schleich, Williamsport, Pennsylvania Appl. No. 765,514

Filed Oct. 7, 1968 Patented Nov. 3, 1970 Assignee Corning Glass Works Corning, New York a corporation of New York OVERWRAP WITH INSPECTION DOORS 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs. u.s. c|....'. 229/51,

229/44 Int. C 865d 5/54 Field of 229/51(Div),;

51(AS 51(RT); 206/7(A), 65, 60(A)% References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1935 Alexander ..229/5 l (R'l)UX 9/1936 l-lofmann ..229/5 l(WB)UX 12/1936 Harrison ..229/5 l(RT)UX 9/ l 954 Allen ..229/5 l(RC)UX 11/1961 Wagner.. 206/65 8/1963 Walsh ...229/5l(AS)UX FOREIGN PATENTS I 12/1960 Italy 206/7(A)UX Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Lec1air Assistant Examiner-James R. Garrett A homey-Clarence R. Patty, Jr. and Burton R. Turner ABSTRACT: An overwrap for cabinets or the like is provided in the form of a carton having resealable inspection doors, which may be opened to inspect the contents of the carton without effecting the integrity of the carton structure.

Patented Nov. 3, 1970 I/VVENTORS.

Lew/s E Reas Victor Sch/eich 01 K ZZZQ/ ATTORNEY OVERWRAP WITH INSPECTION DOORS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the packaging and shipment of storage units and cabinets such as are utilized in machine shops, it is customary to ship such units, provided'with standard drawer arrangements, to the distributors in palletized containers. The distributors, however, often find that theircustomers specify particular drawer arrangements for their requirements, and accordingly it is necessary for the distributor to open the palletized carton and replace the standard drawers with the special drawers in order to meetthe customers demands.

in the past it was necessary for the distributor to unbnnd the steel straps which are customarily utilized to maintain it carton on a pallet, unpack the cabinet from the carton by destroying the integrity of the same, and finally repacking the unit in the carton and rebanding the container. Accordingly, the present invention obviates the difficulties heretofore encountered in packaging and repackaging such devices by providing easily openable and resealable inspection doors for ready access to the packaged article.

SUMMARY or THE lNVENTlON An overwrap is provided for obtaining easy access to the contents thereof withoutdestroying the integrityof the composite package which may include the banding of the overwrap to a pallet. The access isprovided by forming the overpackage item for ready access. The packaged contents may 'then be easily inspected or altered as desired without removing any additional packaging material. or necessitating the removal of the banding from the pallet. To close and reseal the package for shipping, the front panels or door sections are merely swung together and the slit or seam therebetween is rescaled withadditional tape.

it thus has been an object of the present invention to provide an improved overwrap packaging construction having tends downwardly over an upper portion of the front panels 18 and rear panels 22. To form a composite packaging structure. the overlay 10 is shown banded to a pallet 34 by means of metal strips or hands 36 with the bands overlying side panels 20 and top panels 24 while leaving front panels 18 and rear panels 22 free for ready access.

In operation, the carton 12 is assembled by joining the two half sections 14, 16 along the junction of front panels 18 and rear panels 22, by means of tape 28 as shown in FIG. 1. The insertable flaps 26 of top panels 24 are then folded inwardly along fold or crease lines 38 and inserted downwardly within the rectangular open-ended cylinder formed by the front, rear and side panels, and adjacent the front and back panels as shown in FIG. 2. Reinforce tape 32 is then applied to the top panels und mny slightly overlap the front and rear panels. With the overwrup 10 positioned on a pallet 34 and overlying an article to be packaged, banding 36 is applied to form a unitary container.

in order to gain access to the packaged item, it is only necessary to "rip open the front of the overwrap by pulling the peelable or stripable tape 28 overlying the front panels or doors 18. If tape 32 overlies a portion of panels 18, such portion should also be torn open. The front of the package may then be opened by pivoting the front panels 18 in a doorlike manner, as shown by broken lines in FIG. 3, about the crease or fold lines 38 made with side panels 20. The package contents are then exposed for easy inspection and alteration without removing any additional packaging material or destroying the integrity of the overall package assembly, The package may then be closed for shipping by swingingthc doors or front panels 18 together in a closed position and easily openable and resealable access doorswhich permit access to the packaged contents without destroying the integrity of the overall package.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overwrap embodying the present invention with the top flaps in a fully open position.

FIG. 2 illustrates the position of the top flaps in a partially closed position.

FlG. 3 illustrates the overwrap in acompletely closed and handed position on a pallet.

, BRlEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings. an uvorwrttp iii In shown .mmnriuins a container 12 formed of two identical halt wer lions l4 and 16; Each half section is provided with a front panel 18, a side panel 20, a rear panel 22 and a top panel 24 having insertable flaps 26. The two half sections are scaled together along the front panels 18 and rear panels 22 by means of sealing tape 28. Although the slit 30 formed between the adjacent front panels 18 is sealed by a pe elable, stripable or tear tape 28, so as to provide easy access to the front of the container, the tape applied to hold the rear panels 22 together may be regular sealing tape. The top panels 24 arepreferably sealed together by reinforced tape 32 which preferably exrescaling-the seam or slit 30 therebctween with a fresh piece of tape 28.

Although the disclosed embodiments illustrate the two-part container assembly 12 having identical half sections 14 and 16, the container could be fabricated from a single blank having a unitary back wall 22. With such a construction it would be necessary to only utilize a front tape strip 28 and the top strip 32, since there would be no need for a strip 28 on the back panel. Further, should it be desirable to provide access to both the front snd'back of a packaged item, the two-part construction could be provided with peelable or stripable tear tape 28 on both the front panels 18 and the rear panels 22 so that easy access could be had to both front and back portions of the packaged item.

Although we have disclosed the now preferred embodiment of our invention it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An ovcrwrap'packaging construction for providing access to the packaged contents without destroying the integrity of the packaging assembly which comprises, an overwrap container, said container including two separate identical half sections each having a front, side, back and top panel; tape means for securing the frontipancls, back panels and top panels of the half sections. together; and at least the tape means on said front panels being peeiably removable so as to provide ready access to the packaged contents merely by removing such tape and pivoting the front panels outwardly along their respective fold lines in open the carton while maintaining the integrity of the remaining portion of the ovorwrep packaging construction.

2. An overwrap packaging construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the lower end of said container is supported and closed by a pallet, and banding means extend over the side and top panels of said container to secure the same to said pallet while leaving both the front and rear panels free for ready access to the packaged contents by merely removing the tape retaining such panels in a closed position.

3. An overwrap packaging construction for providing access to the packaged contents without destroying the integrity of shape; top panels having insertable flaps positioned downwardly within said rectangular parallelpiped adjacent said front and back panels; and tape means sealing said top panels in a closed position.

4. An overwrap packaging construction as defined in claim 3 including a pallet supporting said ovcrwrap container and closing the bottom thereof, and banding means extending along side and top panels of said container for securely positioning and retaining said ovcrwrap container on said pallet. 

